to take any effective part in the fray; and they
had to learn something which all their writers had not taught them--that
there is a nation's spirit watching over England's safety and greatness,
a spirit at whose mighty call all party differences and racial strifes
fade into insignificance. In the same way they had reckoned on the
unpreparedness of Russia, in consequence of internal dissensions and
administrative weakness, without taking heed of the love of all Russians
for Russia, of their devotion to the long-suffering giant whose life is
throbbing in their veins. The Germans expected to encounter raw and
sluggish troops under intriguing time-servers and military Hamlets whose
"native hue of resolution" had been "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of
thought." Instead of that they were confronted with soldiers of the same
type as those whom Frederick the Great and Napoleon admired, led at last
by chiefs worthy of their men. And behind these soldiers they discovered
a nation. Do they realize now what a force they have awakened? Do they
understand that a steadfast, indomitable resolution, despising all
theatrical display, is moving Russia's hosts? Even if the Russian
Generals had proved mediocre, even if many disappointing days had been
in store, the nation would not belie its history. It has seen more than
one conquering army go down before it--the Tartars and the Poles, the
Swedes of Charles XII., the Prussians of Frederick the Great, the Grand
Army of Napoleon were not less formidable than the Kaiser's army, but
the task of mastering a united Russia proved too much for each one of
them. The Germans counted on the fratricidal feud between Poles and
Russians, on the resentment of the Jews, on the Mohammedan sympathies
with Turkey, and so forth. They had to learn too late that the Jews had
rallied around the country of their hearths, and that the best of them
cannot believe that Russia will continue to deny them the measure of
justice and humanity which the leaders of Russian thought have long
acknowledged to be due to them. More important still, the Germans have
read the Grand Duke's appeal to the Poles and must have heard of the
manner in which it was received in Poland, of the enthusiastic support
offered to the Russian cause. If nothing else came of this great
historical upheaval but the reconciliation of the Russians and their
noble kinsmen the Poles, the sacrifices which this crisis demands would
not be too great a pr